Lyrl's recent activity
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Comment on Scientists study thousands of giant space shades to cool Earth in ~space
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Comment on Where’s the beef? The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t. in ~food
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Comment on Where’s the beef? The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t. in ~food
Lyrl Link ParentI could happily have my diet free of any meat (traditional or fake), but my family and friends just won't. I think the hope for a society-wide more environmentally sustainable diet needs a widely...I could happily have my diet free of any meat (traditional or fake), but my family and friends just won't. I think the hope for a society-wide more environmentally sustainable diet needs a widely adopted fake meat.
In addition to all the obstacles you listed, meat in the US is hugely subsidized. From below-cost feed grain (only government checks keep corn and soybean farmers in business), to direct subsidies to animal producers, to free (to the farmers and ranchers) research and development work through the Department of Agriculture. The competition with fake meats that have no such subsidies is rigged. Since special interests are pretty intractible once dug in, it might take new subsidies for fake meat to give them a chance of taking off.
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Comment on Where’s the beef? The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t. in ~food
Lyrl (edited )Link ParentYeah. Some products are good enough now that they would gain significant market share if they were cheaper than traditional meat. But equal or greater price ensures they remain niche or novelties....Yeah. Some products are good enough now that they would gain significant market share if they were cheaper than traditional meat. But equal or greater price ensures they remain niche or novelties.
At Huber’s, in Singapore, the ominously named GOOD Meat 3, which contains only 3 percent chicken cells, retails for $5.62 per four-ounce serving. Meanwhile, chicken at my local ShopRite, containing 100 percent animal cells, starts at $3.49 per pound...When [Berkeley Bowl West] sold a limited run of Mission Barns meatballs in the fall, they were priced at $13.99 for a tray of eight.
I have intense skepticism on the lab grown path. Animals can eat feed and digest it; lab cells have to be fed pre-digested nutrient formulations, which are expensive to produce. Animals have immune systems; lab cells have to be kept in sterile environments, which are expensive to maintain. Animals have circulatory systems that efficiently provide nutrients to and remove wastes from every individual cell; labs have to operate centrifuges which are questionably scalable due to damaging g-forces at some locations of larger vessels.
I am hopeful the plant-based products like Impossible will gain efficiencies of scale and significantly come down in price over time.
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Comment on Where’s the beef? The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t. in ~food
Lyrl Link ParentI started occasional cooking with Impossible ground and sausages a couple decades into being vegetarian. My goals were to add to the rotation of recipes that are relatively easy and quick (I have...I started occasional cooking with Impossible ground and sausages a couple decades into being vegetarian. My goals were to add to the rotation of recipes that are relatively easy and quick (I have limited energy and am unwilling to prioitize much of it on cooking) and that both my omnivore husband and I like.
I was surprised at which forms just did not work for me. Burgers are "too real". Very creamy dishes are gross. Cottage pie is awesome. Not-creamy pasta sauce is pretty OK. The sausage links I consistently like, but I always want toppings or to have it in a casserole, and find it weird that people would just eat bare sausages (Impossible or traditional).
Anyway, that was a long-winded explanation that maybe the author just didn't know what forms she would like, and once already grossed out the idea of its origin then took hold as a post-rationalization. She seems to have wondered this in doing the experiment with the traditional meatballs, and that she didn't finish those leads support to that theory.
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Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
Lyrl Link ParentAnother big difference is Australia does not use First Past The Post for elections. I am hopeful that is a big enough contributor to the less nasty political environment that the US could benefit...Another big difference is Australia does not use First Past The Post for elections. I am hopeful that is a big enough contributor to the less nasty political environment that the US could benefit by changing voting systems. Getting RCV or some other not-FPTP adopted can be done piecemeal - and there is a bit of momentum as Maine and Alaska already have - so is much more achievable than mandatory voting which would have to be federal all at once.
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Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
Lyrl Link ParentPart of what FairVote advocates for is jungle primaries, where all candidates are on a single ballot and any voter can vote for any one candidate (per office) to advance to the general election....Part of what FairVote advocates for is jungle primaries, where all candidates are on a single ballot and any voter can vote for any one candidate (per office) to advance to the general election.
They also propose top five advance to the general, and the general election be decided by RCV, which I think is way better than what most states currently do even if probably not the best possible system.
But the jungle primaries I believe has to be part of any voting system reform. Partisan primaries systemically encourage extreme candidates, and it's doing terrible things to our country.
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Comment on Historic voter turnout powered US Democrats’ blue wave in ~society
Lyrl Link ParentIn my state over half of ballots were by either early in person voting or by mail in ballot. Expanding those seems way more impactful than declaring a federal holiday would be.In my state over half of ballots were by either early in person voting or by mail in ballot. Expanding those seems way more impactful than declaring a federal holiday would be.
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Comment on RIP Cybertruck. You were unloved, unwanted, and utterly absurd. in ~transport
Lyrl Link ParentI work at a manufacturing company that was an innovation leader in our industry for over a century. Activist investors took it over a couple of decades ago and slashed all the R&D and customer...I work at a manufacturing company that was an innovation leader in our industry for over a century. Activist investors took it over a couple of decades ago and slashed all the R&D and customer support staff. Made them a lot of profits, and they sold all their stock. We are just now, many many years later, falling behind our competitors as the pipeline of new products and institutional knowledge was quite long.
I expect the same decade-plus delayed impact to Twitter.
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Comment on Israel election: Inconclusive? in ~society
Lyrl Link ParentI'm assuming the idea is to prevent a government that includes an Arab party from forming, which is currently the most straightforward way to create a majority coalition.I'm assuming the idea is to prevent a government that includes an Arab party from forming, which is currently the most straightforward way to create a majority coalition.
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Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of October 26 in ~society
Lyrl Link ParentIf your movement gets critical backing from racist fervor, it can't be allowed to stop. The Latino deportations have gone less visible - still happening in large numbers, but not being made a...If your movement gets critical backing from racist fervor, it can't be allowed to stop. The Latino deportations have gone less visible - still happening in large numbers, but not being made a spectacle of, so the racist ra-ra around them has receeded. So they have to pick a new target for the supporters to rally hate for.
Sadly given human nature, if the economic challenges were less obviously caused by Trump, I think that strategy would be working well.
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Comment on ChatGPT keeps telling people 404 Media can solve their tech support problems in ~tech
Lyrl Link ParentHow much human help-time do you think would need to be staffed per sale? A skilled human, including benefits and overhead, might run $100/hr. If one out of four customers asks for support, and...How much human help-time do you think would need to be staffed per sale? A skilled human, including benefits and overhead, might run $100/hr. If one out of four customers asks for support, and needs an hour of support each, that's $25/unit more expensive. Worthwhile if the unit is $1000 without support. Probably not if the unit is $50 without support.
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Comment on Three children and a teacher were killed in Bend, Oregon, elementary school shooting, police say in ~news
Lyrl Link ParentI read the exchange as: Elcuello misunderstood your (DNAF) reference to the impact of taking a human life, even a bad human, on the psyche of a mentally healthy person. They offered a lighthearted...I read the exchange as:
- Elcuello misunderstood your (DNAF) reference to the impact of taking a human life, even a bad human, on the psyche of a mentally healthy person. They offered a lighthearted qualifier to indicate they lack familiarity with that topic and are open to learning more content.
- You stated they had misunderstood you without adding any more context to try to help them understand, and quoted the qualifier with an indication you didn't understand what they meant by it.
- Kfwyre interpreted your declaration of not understanding elcuello's qualifier as an attack. They may have also interpreted elcuello's misunderstanding of your earlier post as an attack.
- You come across as angry at kfwyre's assumption of attacking going on when that was never your intent.
- Kfwyre again responds as if you understand things the same way they do, and your frustration at the situation is an attack on the people involved.
- You have a longer comment that includes more context and also your ongoing confusion over the whole comment chain above
- teaearlgraycold comments on this whole chain of multiple people missing each other's subtext and speculating that would have been less likely to happen if the three of you had talked in person.
It's an odd reading for me, where in my head everyone in this thread is reasonable and nice but you don't see that in each other.
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Comment on Sweden's national broadcaster SVT suspects some of the 4,077 songs submitted for Melodifestivalen 2027 were generated using artificial intelligence in ~music
Lyrl LinkIt sounds like they can't tell from the song itself, only from behavior or statements of the submitters. Potentially a big drag on the reviewers evaluating the submissions if the volume goes way up.the broadcaster became suspicious unknown applicants submitted large numbers of songs across different genres... some applicants openly acknowledged using AI to create their songs.
It sounds like they can't tell from the song itself, only from behavior or statements of the submitters. Potentially a big drag on the reviewers evaluating the submissions if the volume goes way up.
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Comment on Ukraine struck Yandex data centers, Russian bots went silent—now questions are mounting in ~society
Lyrl LinkWhat a misleading title. The article text itself explains that automated traffic is what has confirmed declines, most automated traffic is not directly related to social media bots, and the author...What a misleading title. The article text itself explains that automated traffic is what has confirmed declines, most automated traffic is not directly related to social media bots, and the author appears to have not found any analysis of actual social media bot activity.
The suggested phenomenon of reduction in social media bot activity, while plausible as an indirect relationship to the decline in automated traffic, remains speculative and unconfirmed.
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Comment on What it means when the US right refers to the ‘Indian question’ in ~society
Lyrl LinkI had skimmed some things on the Bo French controversy, but hadn't realized the group he was being racist against in his comment on the UT football picture was people from India. Interesting and...I had skimmed some things on the Bo French controversy, but hadn't realized the group he was being racist against in his comment on the UT football picture was people from India. Interesting and sad that the focus on African-Americans and Hispanic immigrants (especially Hispanics in occupations that don't require a college degree) has broadened to include Indians, especially those with darker skin.
To [French's] dismay, many of the exultant people in cowboy hats, burnt orange T-shirts and other spirit gear appeared to be of South Asian heritage...
Keeperman argued that the very fact that people like French objected to the picture of the football crowd showed that Indian Americans were not part of the American mainstream.
“Successful assimilation is precisely that you wouldn’t notice it,” Keeperman told Rufo. “The mere fact of us being able to notice — that no, this is not an assimilated group, this is just a bunch of Indians at the game — is itself sort of definitionally the case that they’re not yet assimilated.”
At another point, he called Indians “visibly conspicuous, in the way that darker-skinned people are.”Yikes.
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Comment on Why is there no word for please in the Nordic languages – are their speakers simply more direct, or is politeness expressed in ways outsiders may not immediately recognise in ~humanities.languages
Lyrl Link ParentI was taught "por favor" in Spanish class, and it worked exactly how I would expect the English "please" to work during the college semester I spent in Spain.I was taught "por favor" in Spanish class, and it worked exactly how I would expect the English "please" to work during the college semester I spent in Spain.
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Comment on Someone ‘torturing’ LLMs in a robot prison has triggered the dumbest debate in AI yet in ~tech
Lyrl Link ParentIt seems like good corporate liability protection to try to prevent association with people who both enjoy AI "torture" and also torture of biological beings. I came across this awful news article...It seems like good corporate liability protection to try to prevent association with people who both enjoy AI "torture" and also torture of biological beings. I came across this awful news article today on a monkey torture ring - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmz65pjpvq5go - and can see how people into that kind of thing might add AI "torture" to their activities if it were unrestricted, so media could report on an association whether there is any real causal contribution or not.
It's not like we know whether this kind of treatment of AI makes humans more likely to be cruel to other humans or animals - animal cruelty does correlate with a person's likelihood of violence towards humans, but watching video game or movie violence has no correlation with real-life violence, so it seems like it could turn out either way. But the association would be bad for the corporate brand.
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Comment on Someone ‘torturing’ LLMs in a robot prison has triggered the dumbest debate in AI yet in ~tech
Lyrl Link ParentI don't think we can identify the "pre-loaded consciousness" in biological entities, or when it comes into existence during fetal development. That lack of current scientific understanding makes...I don't think we can identify the "pre-loaded consciousness" in biological entities, or when it comes into existence during fetal development. That lack of current scientific understanding makes me skeptical of any claim of absolutes about limits on what information consciousness can take.
As far as the training, human brains experience nerve impulses that encode information from our bodies. Encoding equivalent impulses electronically doesn't seem that different. And there is a branch of AI research that puts the AI in a robotics body, so it can move around in and interact with the physical world like a biological being does as part of it's training.
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Comment on Tilderinos who split after long (10–15 years) relationships: what led to it and how did it happen? in ~life.men
Lyrl LinkMy parents were always unhappy in their relationship: some of my earliest memories are of them fighting, and when I got a job for afternoon shift, my mom commented how she'd had an afternoon shift...My parents were always unhappy in their relationship: some of my earliest memories are of them fighting, and when I got a job for afternoon shift, my mom commented how she'd had an afternoon shift job before I was born, and she really liked it because she didn't have to spend so much time with my dad. They went to years of couples counseling. They physically separated after twenty years due to a job change for my dad and my mom's mom getting really sick, and their relationship did not survive the distance. I think my dad suggested divorce in a fit of anger, not really meaning it, and my mom took it seriously. They continued their history of intense verbal fights throughout the divorce process. They haven't spoken to each other in over twenty years now.
My husband's dad packed up and left his mom when my husband (the youngest child) was a freshman in college. He let her know by leaving a note behind. They had been married for 27 years. His mom was surprised but relieved, and they had an amicable divorce. I don't think they ever spoke again once the divorce was finalized.
In both cases property division wasn't an issue. My parents were already living apart and both had careers they could support themselves with. My husband's dad took very little, left his mom with the house, and while his mom was a homemaker his mom's father was able and willing to support her staying in the house. In both cases at least one partner had seriously considered ending the relationship for multiple years before actually starting the process.
My husband and I formalized our relationship 23 years ago, and mostly have been way happier than either of our parents. We had about a full year of a really rough patch around a few things with the big one being my wanting kid(s) and him not. I hadn't really internalized before then that normal relationship ups and downs could have a sustained down as long as a year. It sucked hard. But we kept trying to talk to each other about how we felt, and it got better again.
Consumers would need to elect politicians who prioritize changing systemic grocery incentives. If Beyond and Impossible were half the price of the meat products they compete with, much less meat would be produced. But in the current culture subsidizing sissy fake products won't get anyone elected, removing government subsidies from red-blooded feed grain farmers and animal ranchers won't get anyone elected, and shifting government R&D resources from the meat supply chain to the meat alternative supply chain won't get anyone elected.